anniversary_jenn-roberto_kiss

That is right folks, the Leftover Queen and her King celebrated one year of wedded bliss yesterday. It is hard to imagine that our wedding, and Jamaican honeymoon were that long ago.

jenn_roberto_writing_in_sand

Seems like yesterday in some ways, but after reminiscing last night about all that we have accomplished in this year, it is amazing how much has happened in such a short period of time. This is one of the things I have enjoyed about getting older – how an event can seem both long ago and really recent depending on the angle you see it.

We spent the day re-living our wedding day as much as possible by going to the beach where our wedding ceremony took place, collecting sand and shells, and taking a 4 mile walk. The weather was gorgeous and we feel so blessed because looking out the window as I write this, it is dark and raining.

That walk came in really handy a few hours later, because we had dinner at the same restaurant where we had our wedding reception and we had an amazing meal, guilt free! The restaurant is called La Cocina and it is located in the Castillo Real Hotel right on the beach in Saint Augustine, Florida. We have been to a lot of the restaurants here in Saint Augustine since moving here almost 2 years ago. But La Cocina has always been good to us. These guys are masters at food styling and presentation. Every dish that comes out looks gorgeous…but how about the taste? The taste is also top notch. Their menu is varied and sophisticated, but also not the ordinary, which makes it such a great place to go.

anniversary_ceviche

Last night we enjoyed Shrimp and Scallop Ceviche as an appetizer. I fell in love with ceviche when we were in Jamaica, eating it at every opportunity. So last night, Roberto ordered it in my honor! Not only was it beautiful, but so fresh tasting. A great way to get the taste buds going!

anniversary_salmon

For an entrée I had New Orleans Salmon with was a salmon steak on top of a potato cake, topped with shrimp Étouffée and a chive cream sauce. I don’t even know where to start with this one. Everything was cooked to perfection, and all the flavors worked together like a magical symphony, right out of Ratatouille, the movie (if you don’t know what I mean, go see the movie)! It was served with grilled asparagus. Since a baby greens salad comes with all entrees, I only ate half. But I also only ate half so that I could enjoy it again today! 🙂

anniversary_scallops

Roberto loves sea scallops. So he had Sea Scallops wrapped in Orange Roughy and grilled topped with Beurre Blanc and served with a side of mashed potatoes, that were served piped in a beautiful tower formation. Again, the dish was delicious.

anniversary_cheese-cake

At the end of our dinner, we were brought out a special surprise from the kitchen, a nice piece of cheesecake with the words “Happy Anniversary!” written on the plate with raspberry sauce (which was exactly what they did when they served our wedding cake – except on that day it said “Congratulations!”). It was a wonderful way to end the evening…except that the evening wasn’t over. After dinner we had to slice into our year old wedding cake!

cake_on_plate

A rum cake with custard filling – and it was still good. The only thing that didn’t really keep to its original flavor was the icing, so we didn’t eat that part. But the rest of it was great. Our cake was made by DeFores Cake Design which is phenomenal!

So now onto our second year of bliss….”They” always say “Find your Bliss” and I feel very lucky to have already found mine! 🙂

Stay tuned, more Italian Adventures are on their way!